Pochteca

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A pochteca was a professional traveling merchant in the Aztec Empire. They were a small, but important class as they not only facilitated commerce, but also communicated vital information across the empire and beyond its borders. Pochtecas also traveled outside the empire to trade with neighboring kingdoms and peoples throughout Mesoamerica. Because of their extensive travel and knowledge of the empire, they were often employed as spies.

Pochteca occupied a high status in Aztec society, below the noble class. The pochteca were responsible for providing the materials that the noble class used to display their wealth. These materials were often obtained from foreign sources. Due to the success of the pochteca, many of these merchants became as wealthy as the noble class, but were obligated to hide this wealth from the public. The pochteca were an advanced group who reported to 12 locations throughout the Empire, where the high officials were located.

The highest officials of the pochteca were the pochtecatlatoque. The pochtecatlatoque were the elder of the pochteca, and were no longer travelers, but rather acted as administrators, overseeing young pochteca and administering the marketplace. The second group of pochteca was the slave traders, known as the tlatlani. These people were often referred to as the richest of merchants, as they played a central role in bathing the slaves used for sacrificial victims.

The third group of long distance traders was the tencunenenque, who worked for the rulers by carrying out personal trade.

A group of trader spies, known as the naualoztomeca, made up the last group of pochteca. The naualoztomeca were forced to disguise themselves as they traveled, as they sought after rare goods. The naualoztomeca were also used for gathering information at the markets and reporting the information to the higher levels of pochteca.

[edit] See also

• Aztec society

[edit] References

The Aztecs of Mexico, George Clapp Vaillant (1901-1945), Penguin Books edition (1953), pp.122-23; also Plate 38 depicting portion of the Codex Florentino.